Hearts of the World

侯逸凡 (Hóu Yìfán) – Marsel Efroimski
19th European Women’s Chess Club Cup; Bilbao, September 20, 2014
English Opening A29

1. c4 e5 2. g3 Nf6 3. Bg2 d5 4. cxd5 Nxd5 5. Nc3 Nb6 6. Nf3 Nc6 7. Rb1 a5 8. d3 Be7 9. 0-0 Be6 10. Be3 0-0 11. Rc1. The alternative is 11. Bxb6 cxb6 12. Nd2?! (12. Qa4 slightly favours White) 12. ... b5 13. Rc1 b4 14. Na4 Rc8 15. Nb3? (15. Nc4 was correct) 15. ... Nd4 16. Rxc8 Bxc8 17. Nac5 a4!-+ Gabriel – Ki. Georgiev, Altensteig 1995. 11. ... Nd5. Another try is 11. ... Re8 12. a3 h6 13. Nd2 Rb8 14. Nb3 Nd5 with approximately equal chances, L. B. Hansen – Romanishin, Polanica-Zdrój 1993. We believe, however, that White may improve somewhere. 12. Nxd5 Bxd5 13. Qa4. Colourless is 13. a3 a4= Carvalho – Granara Barreto, Montevideo 2004. 13. ... Rb8 14. Qb5 Re8?! This Pawn sac is hardly sound, if not decidedly wrong. We would have preferred 14. ... f6 15. a3 and Black’s game, although somewhat inferior, would still have been tenable.

15. Nxe5 Bxa2 16. Nxc6 bxc6 17. Qxa5 Rxb2 18. Bxc6 Bb4 19. Qa7 Rf8 20. Bf3 Bd5?? This is a grave blunder, as it gives White a clear chance to win a piece. However, even after 20. ... Bd6 21. Ra1 Be6 22. Rfb1 White remains with a clear Pawn ahead. 21. Qd4 1 : 0.

Silvia Bertini
Associazione Culturale “Il Delta della Luna”